US scientists and researchers appeared a likely target of a €500 million funding boost announced by Ursula von der Leyen at the Chotar Europe for Science event in Paris.
Policymakers gathered at the iconic Sorbonne in Paris yesterday (5 May) and heard European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen present the first elements of the EU’s Choose Europe Initiative, which hopes to attract the best and brightest researchers and scientists to Europe at a time when the US government is struggling with its academic and funded institutions.
Although von der Leyen never mentioned Donald Trump by name, it would be hard to read the speech as anything other than a critique of what is happening in the US.
As the US government continues to struggle with academic institutions, Trump has called on Congress to cut spending at the National Science Foundation (NSF) by up to 50pc and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by up to 37pc.
Meanwhile, a report from the Institute for Macroeconomic and Policy Analysis in the US showed that even a 25pc cut to NSF and NIH funding would reduce US GDP by an amount comparable to the decline in GDP during the Great Recession. “A 25pc cut in R&D would decrease revenue by approximately 4.3% annually, while a 50pc cut would decrease it by 8.6% annually,” the report found.
“The role of science in today’s world is being questioned,” von der Leyen said. “Investment in fundamental, free and open research is being questioned. What a gigantic miscalculation. I believe that science holds the key to our future here in Europe. Without it, we simply cannot address today’s global challenges – from health to new technology, from climate to oceans.”
She also admitted that Europe needs to do more and that it needs to tackle excessive bureaucracy and increase funding, and set out the first principles of the Chogar Europe initiative.
The first priority she said was to ensure that science in Europe remains open and free. “We want to strengthen the free movement of knowledge and data across Europe – just as we do for goods, talent and capital in our single market,” she said. “And we want to enshrine the freedom of scientific research in a new European Research Area Act.”
The second priority she said she was funding, announcing a new €500 million package. “Science is an investment – and we need to provide the right incentives. That’s why I can announce that we will present a new €500 million package for 2025-2027 to make Europe a magnet for researchers.”
She further announced increased support for early career scientists through a Europe’s Choice pilot under the Maria Skłodowska-Curie scheme.
Von Der Leyen said the third part of Chotar Europe is the need to accelerate the path from breakthrough science to innovation and business opportunities. “That is why we will present a first-ever European Innovation Act and a Startup and Scale-up Strategy, to remove regulatory and other barriers and facilitate access to venture capital for innovative European startups and scale-ups,” she said.
Most significantly, the final part of the new strategy is to make it easier and more attractive to come to Europe to do research, a move seen by many as an effort to attract disillusioned researchers in the US. “We now want to support public and private institutions to better connect with highly skilled workers and researchers and to speed up and simplify entry for top researchers. Because bringing the best from around the world means bringing the best from Europe.”
Last month (April), the European Research Council announced that it was doubling the additional funding available to grantees moving to Europe. Researchers based in the US or elsewhere who wish to move to Europe could, since the establishment of the ERC in 2007, apply for up to €1 million on top of the usual maximum grant amount to establish a laboratory or research team. In May, the ERC plans to increase this to up to an additional €2 million.
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